EY issued a statement following the tragic death of a 26-year-old employee at the company's Pune office. The multinational Big Four accounting firm stated that they are “deeply saddened” by the “tragic and untimely passing” and offered their “deepest condolences” to the bereaved family. However, the statement didn’t sit well with people, and they slammed it as a “typical corporate response.”
Social media is angry:
“Typical corporate response by EY. The company would not improve its work culture, but check the health of employees to make sure they are fit enough to be exploited,” an X user wrote as the statement went viral.
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Another person added, “EY has lost its reputation due to this. This is not the sole case and EY needs to take this seriously. They cannot play with the lives of the people due to the inefficiency of their managers or the top management. End the inefficiency of EY.”
A third expressed, “EY’s response is a classic lesson on how to say nothing will change without saying nothing will change.” A fourth wrote, “While EY admitted their failure in providing a healthy workplace environment, they should be heavily punished. Companies like EY are squeezing the blood of their employees only to satisfy their clients. Managers face an almost 24-hour schedule to meet timelines.”
Complete statement by EY on the tragic death of Anna Sebastian:
{{/usCountry}}A third expressed, “EY’s response is a classic lesson on how to say nothing will change without saying nothing will change.” A fourth wrote, “While EY admitted their failure in providing a healthy workplace environment, they should be heavily punished. Companies like EY are squeezing the blood of their employees only to satisfy their clients. Managers face an almost 24-hour schedule to meet timelines.”
Complete statement by EY on the tragic death of Anna Sebastian:
{{/usCountry}}“Anna was a part of the Audit team at S R Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune for a brief period of four months, joining the firm on 18 March 2024. That her promising career was cut short in this tragic manner is an irreparable loss for all of us. While no measure can compensate for the loss experienced by the family, we have provided all the assistance as we always do in such times of distress and will continue to do so,” the statement read.
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“We are taking the family’s correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility. We place the highest importance on the well-being of all employees and will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for our 100,000 people across EY member firms in India,” it further stated.
The incident came to light when the CA's mother wrote a letter to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani about her daughter's death. In her heartbreaking letter, she also claimed that no one from EY attended the funeral.